Dilitas Weekly Security Brief

The threat to the UK from International Terrorism is SEVERE
The threat to Great Britain from Irish Republican Terrorism is MODERATE

SEVERE means that a terrorist attack is highly likely;
SUBSTANTIAL means that a terrorist attack is a strong possibility;
MODERATE, means that a terrorist attack is possible, but not likely.

DOMESTIC:

Reported 26th February 2015 – The masked Islamic State militant known as “Jihadi John”, who has been pictured in the videos of the beheadings of Western hostages, has been named. He is Mohammed Emwazi, a Kuwaiti-born British man in his mid-20s from west London, who was previously known to British security services. British police declined to comment, citing ongoing investigations.

The world knows him as “Jihadi John,” the masked man with a British accent who has beheaded several hostages held by the Islamic State and who taunts audiences in videos circulated widely online. But his real name, according to friends and others familiar with his case, is Mohammed Emwazi, a Briton from a well-to-do family who grew up in West London and graduated from college with a degree in computer programming. He is believed to have traveled to Syria around 2012 and to have later joined the Islamic State, the group whose barbarity he has come to symbolize. “I have no doubt that Mohammed is Jihadi John,” said one of Emwazi’s close friends who identified him in an interview with The Washington Post. “He was like a brother to me. . . . I am sure it is him.”

Russia has become a danger to Britain and the country must be prepared to take steps to defend itself and its allies, the former head of MI6 says. Sir John Sawers, who recently retired after five years as chief of the Secret Intelligence Service, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that Russia poses a “state to state threat”.

A 22-year-old man was arrested 25 February by anti-terrorism officers in north London on suspicion of funding individuals fighting in Syria. A police spokesman said he was taken to a central London police station, where he remains in custody. Officers were reported as searching two addresses in north London. A Metropolitan Police spokesman said, “The investigation is in relation to the alleged funding of individuals engaged in the Syrian conflict. Enquiries are continuing.”

The most secretive criminal case since the Second World War resumed at the Old Bailey last week with a new jury being sworn in to hear terrorism allegations against Erol Incedal. The 26-year-old London law student faces a retrial after a jury failed to reach a verdict last year on a charge of preparing to commit acts of terrorism.

A man accused of planning a Mumbai-style terror attack in the UK had the address of a property owned by Tony Blair, the Old Bailey has heard. The retrial of Erol Incedal, from London, heard how police had found the address on a piece of paper in a glasses case in his car. He denies intending to commit a terrorist act and is being retried after jurors failed to agree on a verdict at a trial last year.

Britain’s nuclear plants are at risk from a terrorist strike by unmanned drone aircraft. Such an attack could kill tens of thousands of people, a Government adviser has warned. But the authorities are “burying their heads in the sand,” according to John Large. His call for an urgent security overhaul comes as figures showed that nuclear power plants suffered 37 security breaches last year […] Islamic State terrorists have already recruited chemical weapons specialists and counterterrorism experts say they are intent on building a “dirty bomb”. […] Large, who has advised the French government after a growing number of mysterious unmanned flights over that country’s nuclear plants, said drones also pose a risk to the UK’s 16 operational reactors.

The committee monitoring the security services has been taken in by the “glamour” of spying and is failing to do its job, its founder has said. Conservative MP David Davis said the Intelligence and Security Committee had been “captured by the agencies they are supposed to be overseeing”.

A British-based Nepalese army officer ordered the torture of two suspected rebels during the country’s civil war, the Old Bailey has heard. Lt Col Kumar Lama, 47, who now lives in St Leonard’s, East Sussex, was in charge of a barracks in Nepal at the height of the conflict in April 2005. He is accused of ordering the torture of Janak Raut and Karam Hussain, who were believed to be Maoist Communists.

Seven British men who died in the 2013 Algerian hostage crisis were “unlawfully killed”, the judge in an inquest into their deaths has recorded. The inquest heard “unnecessary and unintentional” delays meant government intelligence about terror plots to kidnap British workers in Algeria was not passed on before the armed siege. On 16 January 2013, gunmen linked to al-Qaeda attacked the In Amenas gas plant in Algeria, taking staff hostage. In all, 40 staff and 29 militants died.

Bogus Islamic charity collectors are targeting moderate UK Muslims to fund criminal and terrorist activities, it is feared. They are using intimidation to raise money allegedly for charities helping victims of the Syrian civil war and are “abusing” Muslims who refuse to donate. Police and counter terror authorities have warned that the unregistered Islamic charities are operating door to door collections and have even solicited drivers when they stop at traffic lights. Muslims who refuse to hand over cash are accused of not supporting their communities or of being “ supporters of the Israelis.”

A former Syrian doctor who was discovered with a hoard of explosive ingredients and instructions on how to make bombs was not a terrorist but a “Walter Mitty character”, the Edinburgh High Court has heard. Faris al-Khori, 62, had chemicals, ball bearings, bolts and nuts and a bag of toxic beans that could have been used to produce the poison Ricin at two properties in Edinburgh. He also had a small quantity of a highly-volatile explosive which the Forensic Explosives Laboratory refused to take delivery of because it was so dangerous. The haul was found by accident after firefighters attended a 999 call over a fire in a rubbish chute on the 11th floor of a tower block in the Muirhouse area of the Scottish capital.

NORTHERN IRELAND AND EIRE:

A former soldier has pleaded guilty to having improvised explosive devices at his County Antrim home. John Rankin, 52, admitted having a nail bomb and six blast bombs between 1 January, 2013 and 24 January, 2014. Earlier this month, he pleaded guilty to possessing three blank firing automatic pistols. He has been released on bail to be sentenced on 18 March. While no details about the case against Rankin were heard at Belfast Crown Court on 20 February, a previous court hearing was told that police searched his home after a parcel containing three pistols was intercepted in England.

Officials say a Northern Ireland man has suffered serious wounds when a booby-trapped bomb exploded as he removed a sign bearing threats from an Irish Republican Army faction. The Irish nationalist Sinn Féin party says the man may lose an eye after a blast (25 Feb) near Crossmaglen, a Northern Ireland border town long known as a power base for the outlawed IRA

INTERNATIONAL:

ISIS

Islamic State has acquired a cache of deadly chemical weapons in Libya which pose a significant threat to European security, a British expert has warned. According to Middle East reports, the terror group has unconfirmed quantities of Sarin and mustard gas after defeating government forces in southern and central Libya. A former British Army officer told The Mail on Sunday that the weapons remain dangerous, even though they are likely to be ten years old, and in a degraded state. He said that he based his warning on President Assad’s use of one tonne of Sarin in Ghouta, Syria, in August 2013, which killed as many as 1,000 people.

Islamic militant sect, ISIS, which has been rampaging across the north and west of Iraq since last month, has been demolishing sacred sites such as shrines and mosques around the historic northern city of Mosul in Nineveh province. Photographs from the area posted online under the banner “Demolishing shrines and idols in the state of Nineveh” depicted mosques being turned into piles of rubble – explosives deployed against Shiite buildings – and bulldozers flattening the shrines. At least four shrines to Sunni Arab or Sufi figures have been destroyed by the bulldozers, according to AFP. The structures had been built around graves of Muslim saints. Six Shiite mosques have also been destroyed using explosives.

The Mediterranean could see a return of Somalia-style piracy from fighters loyal to ISIS, experts have warned last week. A report by the Italian Ministry of Defence said that ISIS had already taken control of Libyan ports and boats and, “could repeat the scenario that has dominated the maritime region between Somalia and Aden for the last ten years”. It added, “Speed boats could attack fishing boats, cruise ships, small merchant ships, as well as coast guards in this case more to capture prisoners to exhibit in orange jumpsuits.” A Rear Admiral warned that ISIS pirates would pose a greater danger to shipping and yachting than the Somalis because they are more sufficiently armed.

IRAQ

Iraq has launched a military operation to recapture Saddam Hussein’s hometown of Tikrit from Islamic State (IS), Iraqi TV says. Local media reported that forces were attacking the city, backed by airstrikes from Iraqi fighter jets.

AFGHANISTAN

A suicide attack on a Turkish embassy vehicle in Kabul has killed at least one person, Afghan officials say. The bomber rammed a vehicle carrying explosives into the car in the Afghan capital’s diplomatic quarter, killing a Turkish soldier. The bomber also died. The Taliban later said it carried out the attack, with a spokesman saying the target was “a convoy of US troops”.

PAKISTAN

Pakistan’s mobile phone users must provide their fingerprints for a national identity database or lose their ability to make and receive calls as part of new counter-terrorism measures. Amid growing concerns about the use of illegal and untraceable SIM cards by terrorist cells, phone users who refuse to provide their fingerprints and other biometric information risk having their phone accounts switched off on April 15. Pakistani source state that mobile phone subscribers has grown from about 5 million in 2003 to about 136 million today.

AFRICA

Hundreds of boys in South Sudan have been kidnapped and forced to become child soldiers, the United Nations children’s agency says. The figure is a big increase on the 89 child abductions reported by Unicef last month. Their latest statement blamed a militia group allied to the government.

Four Thai nationals seized from a fishing vessel by Somali pirates nearly five years ago have been released, the UN and local officials have said. It is believed that they spent longer in captivity than any other victims of Somali piracy.

A girl as young as eight is believed to be responsible for a bomb attack on a Nigerian market in which five were killed and dozens injured as defeated Boko Haram militants flee the region. The attack took place at a security check outside a market in the northeast Nigerian town of Potiskum. It’s the third incident this year in which children have been used to carry out attacks in Nigeria. A witness told Reuters that the girl, strapped with explosives, “let the bomb off, killing herself and five others, while many were injured”.

An American missionary in Nigeria has been kidnapped in what authorities call a “purely criminal” act. The Kogi state Police Commissioner said that five men kidnapped the woman from her workplace and are demanding a ransom of 60 million Naira ($301,500). Kogi state is located away from the areas where Boko Haram operates, making it likely that the kidnapping is not related to terrorism. But there is also the possibility that an offshoot group could sell her on to another group.

Two suicide bombers who carried out an attack at a Mogadishu hotel popular with ministers and officials were Dutch nationals, Somali intelligence sources have said. They believe both suicide bombers – a man and a woman – were Dutch-Somali citizens who infiltrated the Central Hotel close to the Presidential palace ahead of the attack, which killed 25 people on 20 February. The woman “worked part time in the hotel for up to four months”, according to an intelligence report seen by AFP.

A mob beat a woman to death in the north-eastern Nigerian city of Bauchi in the belief that she was a suicide bomber, police and witnesses say. The woman – said to be a teenager – was attacked when she refused to be screened at the entrance to a market. No explosives were found on her.

RUSSIA

Reported Saturday 28th February 2015 – A leading Russian opposition politician, former Deputy Prime Minister Boris Nemtsov, has been shot dead in Moscow, Russian officials say. An unidentified attacker in a car shot Mr Nemtsov four times in the back as he crossed a bridge in view of the Kremlin, police say. He died hours after appealing for support for a march on Sunday in Moscow against the war in Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin has condemned the murder, the Kremlin says. President Putin has assumed “personal control” of the investigation into the killing, said his spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

Russia has signed an agreement with Cyprus to give Russian navy ships access to Cypriot ports. Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed the deal after talks with Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades. The deal comes as tensions between Russia and Western countries over the Ukrainian conflict continue. President Putin said that other countries should not be concerned and that the port’s main use would be for counter-terrorism and anti-piracy.

CZECH REPUBLIC

A gunman opened fire at a restaurant in the eastern town of Uhersky Brod, killing eight people before shooting himself dead, officials say. The man burst into the Druzba restaurant and started “shooting indiscriminately”, mayor Patrik Kuncar said. Police described it as the worst mass shooting incident on record. Interior Minister Milan Chovanec said it was not a terrorist attack. Some 20 people were thought to have been in the restaurant at the time. A waitress who was shot in the chest by the gunman is in a serious condition in hospital. The suspect has been described as a local man in his 60s.

FRANCE

French authorities have been left puzzled by sightings of at least five unexplained drones flying over Paris. The first drone was spotted in the skies above the US embassy in the early hours of Tuesday morning, a security source said. Others were later seen over the Eiffel Tower and the Place de la Concorde. Their appearance marked the latest in a series of unexplained drone sightings across France. A security source said there have “never been so many drones appearing in one night”.

Three Al-Jazeera journalists have been arrested for the alleged illegal flying of a drone in Paris after being spotted by police in the Bois de Boulogne area. A spokesman for prosecutors said there was “no relationship for the moment” between the arrests and mysterious drone flights over the city at night.

BANGLADESH

Attackers in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka have hacked to death a US-Bangladeshi blogger whose writings on religion angered Islamist hardliners. Avijit Roy, an atheist who advocated secularism, was attacked as he walked back from a book fair with his wife, who was also hurt in the attack. No-one has been arrested but police say they are investigating a local Islamist group that praised the killing.

NORTH KOREA

A North Korea shipping company has been renaming and reflagging its vessels so it can evade an arms embargo, a UN report has said. North Korea is subject to strict sanctions because of its nuclear weapons programme.

North Korea fired two short-range missiles into the sea as annual US-South Korea military exercises got under way, officials in Seoul say. The two missiles, with a range of 490km (305 miles), were fired from the western city of Nampo into the sea east of the Korean peninsula, the South Korean military said. The drills, involving tens of thousands of troops, always anger Pyongyang.

THAILAND

The parents of a former Thai princess have been detained under the lese majeste law, the strict defamation rules that protect the royal family. Srirasmi Suwadee’s parents confessed that they had misused royal connections to have their former neighbour jailed on a bogus fraud charge 12 years ago. Ms Srirasmi, who is divorced from Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn, has now seen nine relatives arrested.

AUSTRALIA

Up to 40 Australian women have taken part in terror attacks or are supporting militant groups, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has said. She told parliament an increasing number of women were going to Syria and Iraq to join husbands fighting with Islamic State (IS) or marry a militant. Dozens of Australian nationals are thought to have joined IS. Australian officials are worried about the effect of returnees, and on those who support them, on domestic security.

FRANCE

Eight men have been jailed over a double heist on the Harry Winston store in Paris that netted watches and jewels worth more than $100m (£65m). The sentences ranged from nine months to the 15-year term given to the man believed to be the mastermind, Douadi Yahiaoui, nicknamed “Doudou”.

ARGENTINA

Argentina’s Congress has approved a bill to scrap the country’s intelligence agency. The Intelligence Secretariat will be replaced with a new federal agency that will be accountable to Congress.

COLOMBIA

Reported 28th February 2015 – The former head of Colombia’s secret police, Maria del Pilar Hurtado, has been found guilty of spying on politicians, judges and journalists. The Supreme Court said Hurtado’s sentence would be announced in 15 days.

MEXICO

Mexican police have captured the country’s most wanted drug lord, Servando “La Tuta” Gomez. Mr Gomez, leader of the Knights Templar drug cartel, was arrested in Morelia in Michoacan state without a shot fired.

USA

A one-time al-Qaeda chieftain and aide of Osama bin Laden was found guilty last week of conspiring to kill Americans in the 1998 bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa. Khaled al- Fawwaz was convicted on four counts of conspiracy by an anonymous Manhattan federal court jury for his role in the attacks that killed 224 people, including a dozen Americans. He led an al- Qaeda training camp in Afghanistan in the early 1990s and later served as bin Laden’s spokesman in London.New York juries have convicted five other people in the embassy attacks. Al-Fawwaz had been scheduled to stand trial with a co-defendant, Abu Anas al-Libi, but he died last month after a long illness.

US Secretary of State John Kerry has questioned the judgement of Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu over his stance on Iran’s nuclear programme. Mr Netanyahu has criticised the US and others for “giving up” on trying to stop Iran obtaining nuclear weapons. The Israeli PM “may not be correct”, Mr Kerry said after attending the latest Iran nuclear Argentina’s Congress has approved a bill to scrap the country’s intelligence agency.

The head of the US Army says he is “very concerned” about the impact of spending cuts on the UK’s armed forces. Chief of Staff General Raymond Odierno voiced his reservations about the falling proportion of the UK’s national wealth being spent on the military. He warned it could see British units operating within US ranks, rather than divisions working alongside each other.

The FBI has arrested three foreign nationals living in Brooklyn who agents say sought to join the Islamic State. Two of the men had threatened to kill police officers and FBI agents in the US if they were unable to travel to Syria, the FBI said. The men came to the authorities’ attention after they posted to Uzbek-language websites in recent months. In one post, they pledged to kill US President Barack Obama, the FBI said.

The trial of a Pakistani man accused of plotting bomb attacks in the US and the UK has seen documents seized during the raid on Osama Bin Laden’s compound. The documents referred to planned attacks in Britain, Europe and Russia, a US court heard. Abid Naseer, 28, stands accused of orchestrating an al-Qaeda conspiracy to attack Manchester and New York. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges and denied he was involved in any violent extremism.

A U.S. court in New York has found the Palestine Liberation Organisation and the Palestinian Authority liable for attacks in Israel over 10 years ago. Six attacks in and around Jerusalem killed 33 people and wounded hundreds more during the second Palestinian intifada between 2002 and 2004. The jury awarded victims of the attacks more than $218m. The Palestinian groups expressed dismay at the court’s decision and vowed they would appeal. As some of the victims were American citizens, the lawsuit was filed in a U.S. court. After deliberating for a day, jurors ruled in favor of 10 American families who were seeking damages related to the six attacks. The
Israeli government has denied any official involvement in the lawsuit.

Two men convicted of seeking to join al-Qaeda and training to carry out attacks on Americans in Afghanistan were sentenced on 23 February to 25 years in federal prison, the U.S. Justice Department said. The two former Southern Californian men, Sohiel Omar Kabir, 37, and Ralph Deleon, 26, were said to have trained at firearms and paintball facilities in Southern California to prepare for their mission. They were found guilty in federal court in September of conspiring to provide material support to terrorists and conspiring to murder U.S. military and government
personnel.

The US Homeland Security Department has avoided a partial shutdown as Congress passed a one-week funding extension, hours before a midnight deadline. The House of Representatives voted 357-60 in favour of the short-term bill after it had been passed in the Senate.

A top official at the U.S. Justice Department has said that he is willing to indict people who assist ISIL with its use and production of social media, the Daily Beast reports, saying that the announcement raises questions about where the government would draw the line between support for a terrorist group and legally-protected free speech. John Carlin, the assistant attorney general for national security, told a cyber-security conference in Washington that officials could try to blunt ISIL’s violent PR operation by essentially trying propagandists as terrorists. He suggested the Justice Department could bring prosecutions under the law against providing material support to a terrorist organisation.

Eight people are dead and one person has been injured after a series of shootings in south-central Missouri. Police made the discoveries on late Thursday at five different homes in or near the small town of Tyrone after an emergency call.

CYBER ISSUES:

US intelligence agencies have placed cyber attacks from foreign governments and criminals at the top of their list of threats to the country. Online assaults would increasingly undermine US economic competitiveness and national security, according to Director of National Intelligence James Clapper. A report issued by his office said Russia’s military was setting up a cyber command to carry out attacks. The report also describes China, Iran and North Korea as leading threats. The idea that major infrastructure such as financial networks or power grids could be disabled by hackers now looked less probable, he said. However he warned: “We foresee an ongoing series of low-to-moderate level cyber attacks from a variety of sources over time, which will impose cumulative costs on US economic competitiveness and national security.”

Last week, Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre (EC3) coordinated a joint international operation from its operational center in The Hague, which targeted the Ramnit botnet that had infected 3.2 million computers around the world. The operation involved investigators from Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and the UK along with partners from private industry. This botnet – a term used to describe a network of infected computers – was used by the criminals running it to gain
remote access and control of the infected computers, enabling them to steal personal and banking information, namely passwords, and disable anti-virus protection. This malware, infecting users running Windows operating systems, explored different infection vectors such as links contained in spam emails or by visiting infected websites.

On 25 February, President Obama directed the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) to establish the Cyber Threat Intelligence Integration Center (CTIIC). The CTIIC will be a national intelligence center focused on “connecting the dots” regarding malicious foreign cyber threats to the nation and cyber incidents affecting U.S. national interests, and on providing all-source analysis of threats to U.S. policymakers. The CTIIC will also assist relevant departments and agencies in their efforts to identify, investigate, and mitigate those threats.

A teenager not even old enough to drive a car was able to wirelessly connect to a vehicle’s internal computer network and control various functions. The 14-year-old built an electronic remote auto communications device with $15 worth of Radio Shack parts that were assembled in less than a night. Auto executives at a conference last week sponsored by the Centre for Automotive Research revealed how stunned they were by the feat, which actually happened last summer, noting it shed light on the need for greater security as vehicles gain more wireless capabilities. The boy was among 30 other students ranging in age from high school to college undergraduates to PhD students who participated in the third annual Battelle CyberAuto Challenge. The year, make and models of the cars experimented on during the challenge were not disclosed.

AND FINALLY

In Avon and Somerset, UK, two 16-year-olds were magnet fishing off a bridge in a nature reserve at Greylake on the Somerset Levels when they came across a cache of weapons. Press reports states that among the haul were parts of a Nazi MG 42 light machine gun, AK47’s, an M16 and a Czech-made SA23 9mm submachine gun. After throwing most of the weapons backs in the water, one boy decided to keep a 1930s Smith & Wesson revolver that he took home. On seeing it, his stunned mother […] immediately called police. This resulted in police dredging the river the following day to recover the rest of the weapons. A spokesman for Avon and Somerset Police later said, “None of the weapons were complete, and they were extremely rusty and very old. All of the weapon parts have been or are being destroyed.” Experts claimed the weapons could have been used by the IRA during The Troubles, but they may have been dumped when paramilitaries were meant to be declaring arms in 2001. Former SAS sergeant Andy McNab said the fact that some of the weapons had large machine gun barrels, meant it could be the IRA. A police spokesman however suggested they may have come from a former weapons factory in the area and possibly dated back to the Second World War.

CNN has apologised for a technical glitch that showed an image of Vladimir Putin during a news segment on an alleged Isis executioner known as Jihadi John. A picture of the masked man, who appears in beheading videos of at least five hostages, was followed by an image of the Russian prime minister looking somewhat annoyed. Putin’s face flashed up on screen during the live news broadcast above a caption that read: “Jihadi John identified”.

SIGNIFICANT ANNIVERSARIES:

2 March 2002 U.S. invasion of Afghanistan: Operation Anaconda.
4 March 2001 The Real IRA mounts a car bomb attack on the BBC offices in Wood Lane, London W12. The device was contained in rear of black taxi left abandoned outside building – 2001
8 March 1995 Two American diplomats are shot dead by gunmen in Karachi, Pakistan.
8 March 1973 Two car bombs explode in London (Old Bailey and Whitehall). Two other VBIEDs were made safe. These attacks marked the start date of the Provisional IRA’s mainland offensive that continued (more or less) until the 1997 ceasefire.
9 March 1994 Provisional IRA launched improvised mortars at Heathrow Airport with further attacks taking place on 11 and 13 March.
9 March 2015 Commonwealth Day
11 March 2004 Ten bombs explode on morning rush hour trains in Madrid killing 200
15 March 2015 Mothering Sunday – UK only
16 March 1988 Murder of Kurdish villagers at Halabja by Iraqi troops using chemical weapons
16 March 1984 William Buckley, a U.S. national, kidnapped and killed by Hezbollah
17 March 1992 Car bomb at Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires kills 28, injures 220
17 March 1968 Grosvenor Square massed riots directed against the U.S. Embassy during an anti-Vietnam war rally
17 March 1968 Grosvenor Square massed riots directed against the U.S. Embassy during an anti-Vietnam war rally.
17 March 2015 St Patrick’s Day
19 March 2007 Suicide bomber attacks U.S. convoy in Afghanistan killing 2 officials. Taliban claimed responsibility.
19 March 1982 Argentinean actions result in the start of the Falklands War – 1982
20 March 2003 Invasion of Iraq by US/British troops to remove Saddam Hussein
20 March 1995 Sarin Nerve gas attack on Tokyo subway kills 12 and sickens 5,000.
21 March 2015 Nowruz – Afghanistan/Iran New Year
21 March 1985 Founding day of E.R.N.K. (political wing of the Kurdish PKK)
24 March 1986 U.S. retaliation against Libyan aggression during naval exercise in Gulf of Sirte
27 March 2001 Abdelmajid Dahoumane arrested for role in plot to attack Los Angeles International Airport on 31 December 1999
29 March 2010 Some 40 killed and 60 wounded as two female [Chechen] suicide bombers attack two Metro stations in Moscow.
29 March 2015 British Summer Time begins – clock in the UK go forward 1 hour
29 Marh 2015 Christian festival – Palm Sunday
30 March 1979 British MP, Airey Neave, killed by under vehicle bomb as he drove out of the Palace of Westminster. Irish National Liberation Army claimed responsibility.

1 April 2015 All Fools Day (UK and US)
2 April 1998 In the Irish Republic, a 990lb VBIED is discovered at Dublin ferry port bound for England. The device was made safe. Real IRA blamed.
2 April 1986 Attempted sabotage of TWA flight 840. Four people killed, nine injured.
2 April, 1982 Argentina invades the Falkland Islands, precipitating war with Britain
April campaign across the USA
3 April 2015 Christian festival – Good Friday
4 April 1986: La Belle discothèque bombed in Germany killing three. Libya implicated in the attack.
April 4 1979 Execution by hanging of former Pakistan President Bhutto
4 April 2015 Pesach (Passover)
5 April 2015 Christian festival – Easter Day
April 5, 1988 Hezbollah hijack a Kuwaiti B747 aircraft, an incident that lasted 16 days.
6 April 2015 UK Public Holiday – Easter Monday
April 6, 2001 Algerian Ahmed Ressam is convicted of the New Years Day plot to bomb Los Angeles airport.
April 6, 1994 Presidents of Rwanda and Burundi killed when their aircraft was believed shot down by a missile. Start of Rwanda civil war.
April 7, 1998 Rocket attack on the Athens branch of the U.S. Citibank
April 10, 1998 Northern Ireland’s Good Friday Agreement signed
April 10, 1992 Massive Provisional IRA truck bomb functions outside the City of London’s Baltic Exchange killing 3 people and causing immense damage.
April 11, 1968 Founding day of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command
April 12, 1997 Police in Sarajevo thwart an attempt to kill the Pope.
April 12, 2000 HM Queen presents the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) with the George Cross, the highest civilian award for bravery.
April 14, 2005 In the UK, Kamel Bourgass is jailed for 17 years for plotting to spread Ricin. He was already serving life for the murder of a police officer during a police raid on his Manchester apartment in 2003.
April 15, 2013 Three killed, 264 wounded when bombs explode at Boston Marathon; Djokhar Tsarnaev arrested, Tamerian Tsarnaev killed in manhunt
April 15, 1986 U.S. fighter planes from USAF Lakenheath attack targets in Libyan cities of Tripoli and Benghazi. Libya threats to retaliate against US and UK.
April 16, 1988 Assassination in Tunis of PLO Leader Abu Jihad by Israeli Agents
April 17, 1984 Murder of woman police officer, Yvonne Fletcher, outside Libyan Peoples Bureau in St. James Square, London.
April 17, 1961 An invasion force of Cuban exiles lands at Cuba’s Bay of Pigs to try to overthrow Fidel Castro.
April 18, 1983 Hezbollah mounts a massive VBIED attack on the U.S. Embassy in Lebanon killing 63 people and wounding more than 100.
April 18, 2010 Abu Ayyub al-Masri and ‘Umar al-Baghdadi, the leaders of al-Qaeda in Iraq, are killed in Coalition raid in Baghdad
April 19, 1993 End of the siege at the Branch Davidian Cult in Waco, Texas.
April 19, 1995 Massive VBIED attack on the Federal building in Oklahoma kills 167 people. McVeigh later executed for this crime June 2001.
April 20, 2014 Easter Day – Christian
April 20, 1870 Birth Date of Hitler (occasional rallies by extreme Right Wing groups)
April 20, 1998 Germany’s Red Army Faction announces its disbandment
April 21, 1926 Birthday of HM Queen Elizabeth ll. Gun salutes in Hyde Park
April 21, 1997 End of 126-day siege at Japanese Ambassador’s residence in Peru.
April 22, 2002 Al-Qaeda attack on a Tunisia synagogue in Djerba kills 19 people
April 24, 1915 Anniversary of Armenian genocide in Turkey.
April 24, 1916 Start of the Easter Rising in Dublin.
April 24, 1968 Founding of Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command.
April 24, 1993 A massive Provisional IRA truck bomb at Bishopsgate, City of London, kills one person and injures 35 others.
April 24, 1996: Large Provisional IRA Semtex bomb under Hammersmith Bridge fails to function properly.
April 25, 2011 Easter Monday
April 25, 1997: To date, the last Provisional IRA attack on mainland UK prior to their current ceasefire. A bomb attack on an electricity pylon next to M6 in Walsall.
April 25, 1980 Failed U.S. military hostage rescue mission to free 53 U.S. hostages held in the Iranian capital, Tehran.
April 26, 1986 Chernobyl Disaster
April 27, 1984 End of Libyan Embassy siege in London
April 28, 2011 Bomb kills 15 in Marrakech cafe frequented by Westerners in first major attack in country since May 2003; government blames AQIM but group denies responsibility
April 29, 1992 Rioting in Los Angeles following verdict in Rodney King case
April 30, 1975 The war in Vietnam ends as Saigon surrenders to the Vietcong.
April 30, 1973 President Nixon takes responsibility for the Watergate scandal but denies any personal involvement
April 30, 1980 Iranian Embassy siege in London – ended on May 5th in a resolution by 22 Special Air Service Regiment.